No-fail Fire Starter

Here’s an easy fire starter for your wood stoves and fireplaces. Form a bundle of 6–8 wooden matches and tie it with cotton string, leaving about a 4″ tail. Holding the tail, dip the bundled matches into melted candle wax, getting the wax about 1″ up the string. Let the bundle dry on wax paper.

To start your fire, just pile kindling around the bundle and light the “wick.” It will burn down, and once the wax melts, the matches will ignite. It gives a constant, slow burn so the kindling has a chance to ignite. Another benefit of the wax is that it makes the whole affair waterproof (and thus a great lightweight fire starter for camping too).